What is your name ?" "Keith--Jack Keith." "A cowman ?" "A little of everything, I reckon," a touch of returning bitterness in the tone.

"A plainsman, who has punched cattle, but my last job was government scout." "You look as though you might be more than that," she said slowly.
The man flushed, his lips pressing tightly together.

"Well, I--I may have been," he confessed unwillingly.

"I started out all right, but somehow I reckon I just went adrift.

It's a habit in this country." Apparently those first words of comment had left her lips unthinkingly, for she made no attempt to reply; merely stood there directly facing him, her clear eyes gazing frankly into his own.